Don’t Forget Your Child’s Back to School Eye Exam

August is a busy time of the year for most parents as they scramble to get everything together in time to send their kids back to school. Haircuts, fall clothes, new backpacks, and school supplies are probably just a few of the things on your to-do list right now.

There is one item that is probably missing from that to-do list: back to school eye exams. While this is probably the last thing you on your mind, the truth is that one in four children have some sort of vision problem. And your child’s eyesight is far more important to their success in school than a new lunchbox.

Vision Screenings are Not Enough

Many parents will say, “My child does have a yearly eye exam! The school does a free exam every fall and their vision is always fine.” Those are not actually eye exams, they are vision screenings.

Vision screenings are much shorter and only test for visual acuity and often miss many things like farsightedness. They are limited and only end up actually finding about five percent of vision issues in children.

A vision screening is better than nothing but parents shouldn’t solely rely on them. To ensure that your child’s eyes are functioning at their best you will want to take them for a yearly eye exam.

A comprehensive eye exam will look at visual acuity, symptoms of common eye disease, and color blindness. It will also test how well the two eyes are working together.

It’s Never Too Early

Your vision continues to change as you age so it is never too early to take your child for an eye exam. Kindergarten is often seen as one of the foundational years of a child’s education and this will be dramatically impacted by their ability to see the board or read the book in front of them.

If your child has struggled with school in this past, this could be a sign of undetected vision problems. Get them scheduled for their back to school vision screening and get them started early on the path to success. Contact Eye Associates of Tallahassee to schedule your child's eye examination today!